- Auerbach composed this set of preludes in 1999. It was commissioned by Herbert and Beverly Gelfand, and dedicated to Vadim Gluzman and Angela Yoffe.1
- Gluzman played the work’s concert version premiere, with Auerbach at the piano, on March 18, 2004, in San Francisco.
- The work also exists in a version as a ballet. Gluzman and Yoffe played the premiere of the ballet version in Hamburg on June 22, 2003.
- This is one of several sets of preludes in all 24 Major and minor keys which Auerbach published in 1999. Other examples are her 24 Preludes for Piano, Op. 41 and her 24 Preludes for Cello and Piano, Op. 47.
- The tradition of exploring all Major and minor keys in a series of preludes originates most famously with Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier, in which he did so (twice) using both preludes and fugues. Chopin’s 24 Préludes, Op. 28, continued this tradition in all keys, but without the fugues, using the “prelude” concept as freeform, standalone miniatures.
- Shostakovich continued the tradition with his 24 Preludes, Op. 34 – a work that Auerbach transcribed for viola and piano in 2010.
“The special character of the pieces lies in regarding familiar things from an unexpected perspective and discovering that these things are not what they may seem to be at first glance. The context and order of the Preludes are very important for their comprehension.”
Auerbach, on her 24 Preludes, Op. 46 2
Sources
- Lera Auerbach: Catalogue (Hamburg: Sikorski, October 16, 2020), 31.
- “24 Preludes for Violin and Piano,” Sikorski, accessed August 6, 2021, https://www.sikorski.de/661/en/0/a/0/3272_24_preludes_for_violin_and_piano.html.
Cut IDs
20587